Turkish Stuffed Bell Peppers

We’re home from Portland and I miss it SO much already. It actually looked like Fall there!
On Saturday we woke up early to run over to my old high school. I did a timed mile and was 11 seconds faster than my last one (two weeks ago) with a 6:42. Yay!
I have so many great memories from that track.

After the run we met up with Kelsey and her husband for coffee! I’ve been internet-friends with her for about 3 years so it was awesome to finally meet in person.

We’ve never had much time in Portland to just get out and explore by ourselves, because our visits are usually short and there are so many people there to see. But this trip we made sure to leave some time open to check out some different neighborhoods.
Mike and I are pretty convinced that San Francisco has the best coffee of any city in America, but I know some people argue that Portland is better. We’d heard Stumptown was kind of overrated, so we went to Coffeehouse Northwest (19th and West Burnside) to see how it compared to our San Francisco favorites.
The lattes were amazing, and so was the ginger cookie.
Next we crossed the river and drove up to NE Alberta Street. There was pretty much nothing there when I was in high school, so it’s kind of crazy to see how much that neighborhood has changed.
I bought some yarn at Close Knit, an adorable yarn store with super friendly employees. My goal is to knit Mike a hat before I go back to work (a week from TODAY!)
I’ve professed my love for Bi-Rite Creamery a few times, but I think I have found my new favorite ice cream. Salt and Straw has so many great flavors. Mike got a scoop of pear with Rogue blue cheese (genius!) and I got a scoop of almond brittle with salted ganache.
As always, we ate way too much while we were in Portland, but it was a really fun trip that went by way too fast.

This week, I’m planning on cooking lots of healthy dinners like this. These are cute, flavorful, and not too heavy. I switched out white rice in favor of brown, which I soaked for a few hours so it would cook a little faster.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onion. Fry for about 3 minutes, then stir in the rice and cook for another 3 minutes.

Stir in 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes or until the water is mostly absorbed. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, then add additional water about 1/4 of a cup at a time, until the rice is nearly done (it should still be a tiny bit chewy - it will soften as the peppers bake in the oven).

Stir in the remaining ingredients (except for the peppers). Adjust seasonings to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Cut a circle around the stem end of the peppers and remove all the seeds (keep the caps). Fill each pepper with the rice mixture, then place the caps on top.

Arrange the peppers in a baking dish and add about 1" of water. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until peppers are tender.

6:42? so speedy your Portland trip looks amazing! the coffee, the ice cream, the knitting shop.. I’ve been seriously knitting since the beginning of the month, trying to knock out some Christmas presents. There’s also an adorable knitting shop in my neighborhood called “a verb for keeping warm.”

Hooray for Portland! It was SO fun to meet up with you. You and your family are adorable. I hope we get to meet up again sometime soon

Thanks for the coffee and ice cream recs. I’ve got one for you, as well. We went to dinner at Navarre, which is a French small plates place in Laurelhurst. We did the tasting menu with wine, which can be done vegetarian upon request. So tasty!

Hello
It looks delicious “biber dolması” stuffed peppers in turkish They can be served 2-3 tablespoon plain turkish yogurt with 1 crushed garlic clove as usually Turks do.
But do you know, the bell peppers they use are different american ones.They are small and delicate, with very fine skin.